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Initial Support for Payments on Google Assistant Begins Rollout

Selected owners of Google's Pixel smartphone have reported that support for making payments through Google Assistant have begun to be rolled out, with users able to add credit card and address details for future purchases.

Payment options began appearing under the Assistant settings section on Wednesday night. Support for payments was not initially available when version 6.13 of the app began rolling out in beta on Tuesday, so its subsequent appearance is likely part of a server-side rollout.

Currently, there are still no ways to actually use the new payments feature through Google Assistant to make purchases, with Google yet to share the functionality with third-party developers. However, the support that has been introduced provides a glimpse at how it will operate.

Tapping into the Payments option section brings up a tutorial, which walks users through setting up payments and delivery info for "packages, groceries and other purchases". In addition to the Google Payments terms of service, users have to agree to the conditions for Google Express, the firm's home delivery service, in order to access the feature.

The Payments option does not appear to be device-specific, with options to allow shared devices such as the Google Home smart home hub. A separate toggle enables users to disable "Pay through your Assistant" for the moment, storing the info for future usage.